


Adventures in Domesticity

by Dumbelectricfish, Lady_Noobpwnia



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Cuddling, Domestic, Getting a Kitten, Grocery Shopping, M/M, Moving In Together, Snowball Fight, Washing Dishes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-01 04:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2760341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dumbelectricfish/pseuds/Dumbelectricfish, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Noobpwnia/pseuds/Lady_Noobpwnia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of domestic Mavin one-shots. All are loosely connected, but are also designed to be stand-alone pieces. </p><p>This will be co-written by me, Dumbelectricfish, and my friend Katie, Lady_Noobpwnia. Dumbelectricfish will be writing the odd-numbered chapters and Lady_Noobpwnia the even-numbered. Updates will be every Friday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Four Donuts and Five Bananas

**Author's Note:**

> Michael and Gavin go grocery shopping.

“No.” Pause. “Gavin, I said no.” 

“Michael, c’mon! I just want to look!”

“Gavin. We are here to buy fucking groceries. We’re not going to go look at the damn toys.” Michael glared at his boyfriend. “I am so not bringing you to Walmart next time to buy food. A fucking normal grocery store has a lot less fucking distractions.” Michael tugged a cart from the long line and shoved it forward, towards the produce section. Keeping Gavin on track was going to be difficult. 

Apples, grapes, a bag of lettuce, a bag of carrots. Gavin trailed along next to him as he picked up each item and put it in the cart. When Michael stopped to bag up some broccoli, Gavin hopped onto the back of the cart and hung there like a child, nearly tipping the cart with his weight. Michael grabbed the handle of the cart and balanced it out, glaring at Gavin across the metal basket. 

“Gavin knock it off. If you do that again and tip this thing over, you’re picking everything up.” 

Gavin’s grin was infuriatingly incandescent. Michael fought to keep his glare focused. “But it’s fun, Michael.”

“You’re going to break something, either yourself or something around you. At least help me pick out food. You have to eat it too, moron.” 

Gavin’s grin widened and he immediately bounded off, reaching for the bin of bananas that sat not too far from where they stood. He started reaching for bunch after bunch and Michael left the cart where it stood to make a beeline for Gavin. 

“No, we are not getting twenty bananas, stupid. There’s no freaking way we could eat all those before they go bad.” Gavin looked a little crestfallen and Michael softened his tone. “Get like…five, maybe, okay?”

“Okay.” Gavin smiled, and picked up a bunch of five bananas, all of them appropriately tinged with green. Michael made sure they made it into the basket rather than the body of the cart, to avoid getting crushed. “Where to now?”

“Bakery. We need bread.” 

Gavin led the way, bouncing on his toes. Michael carefully steered the cart behind him, making sure to not clip Gavin’s heels as he went. Shopping for anything with Gavin was always interesting, but groceries especially. Michael had lost track of the number of times they had ended up with more random shit than they’d planned because Gavin bought so much on impulse. 

Gavin let out a rather loud cooing sound as they entered the baking section. “Michael, they have donuts! We should get some!” he started making a beeline for the glass cabinet that the pastries sat in. 

“You’re a donut,” Michael said. He opened his mouth to tell Gavin that it was a bad idea to get donuts, but his boyfriend turned to look at him and he looked so excited that Michael just couldn’t tell him no. “Just…get like three, okay? We don’t need a million of them.”

“Okay!” 

Michael turned away from Gavin to go browse the bread, and picked up two different loaves. He was putting a baguette in the cart when Gavin returned, carrying a little white bag of donuts. He put them in the basket. 

“I picked out four. I couldn’t decide.”

Michael’s mouth twitched as he fought back a smile. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“What else do we need?” Gavin asked. “I seem to recall being out of cheeeeeese.” He drew out the “ee,” lingering it on his tongue. Michael pretended that he didn’t like the way it sounded, the way it slid past Gavin’s lips. 

“Yeah, we are.” They headed towards the dairy section. Unfortunately this involved walking through the freezer section, and Gavin made a beeline for the ice cream. 

“Michael, we should get ice lollies!”

“Ice lollies?”

“Yeah, these!” Gavin pointed at a particular cooler. 

“Oh. Popsicles.” 

“Yeah.”

Michael looked at the cooler for a moment. “Okay sure. Let’s get these.” He reached in and pulled out a box of orange and vanilla popsicles, putting them in the cart.  
“What about ice cream? We should get some of that.”

“No, let’s not. We’re gonna have enough issues not getting the popsicles to melt between now and home, in this heat. Besides, we have ice cream at home, remember?”

Gavin nodded. “Good point.”

They moved on to the dairy. Michael picked up a carton of eggs and a gallon of milk, while Gavin wandered over to the cheese section. He was still browsing when Michael joined him.

“I can’t decide what kinds to get,” he said, moving around to hug Michael from behind. Michael smiled, leaning back into Gavin a little bit. 

“Well, we should get cheddar and American, especially since I was thinking we could try making burgers again on the George Foreman at some point. Other than that, though, I don’ know. I’m not picky.”

Gavin picked up packages of both. “What about this kind?” He asked, holding up a little net bag of small round cheeses wrapped in wax. “These look fun.”

“I’m cool with it.”

“Awesome!” Gavin tossed them in the cart. “What else do we need to get?”

Michael began pushing the cart again. “Well, we need to get some meat, and soda, and I think we’re almost out of cereal. Other than that, though, I think we have everything.”  
“I’ll go pick out the cereal, Michael.” 

Michael paused in the middle of putting some lunch meat in the cart and looked at his boyfriend. “Okay. That works for me.”

Gavin grinned and disappeared around the corner. Michael was just moving on when his phone beeped. It was a text from Gavin, and all it said was “Pickles!”

Michael assumed that it meant Gavin wanted him to get some pickles, even though he was pretty sure they already had a jar in the fridge at home. He smiled to himself over the fact that Gavin texted his request to him rather than just waiting until they met up again. But he obliged, and put a jar of dill pickles in the cart. After that he picked up a couple packages of burger meat and a couple packages of chicken breasts, and then was just about to move on when Gavin came bounding back over, almost knocking over a display of chips in the process. 

“Easy there, Gav.” Michael said. “Wait a minute, how many boxes of cereal did you get?”

Gavin dumped what appeared to be five boxes of assorted cereals into the cart. “I couldn’t decide!”

“Gav, there’s…that’s a lot of cereal. There’s no way we can eat all of that.”

“Well but it doesn’t go stale, does it? It can just sit in its box until we open it!”

Michael had to admit that Gavin had a point. “All right.” 

“Do we need anything else?” 

“Nope, I think we’re done.” They headed towards the checkout, and Michael had to keep Gavin out of the candy racks as they stood in line (“no, Gavin, we don’t need giant jawbreakers”) and he couldn’t help but think that shopping with Gavin was remarkably like shopping with an eight-year-old, but yet, he didn’t mind. 

Gavin kissed him on the cheek as they loaded the plastic bags of food into their car, and Michael couldn’t help but grin. “C’mon, stupid, let’s go home and unload all this shit.”


	2. Spritzing Innuendos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Gavin try to do the dishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyo, Lady_Noobpwnia here. Basically, this is late because I'm shit. Yay. Anywho, here you lovelies go. Hope you like it. ^_^

“Mm. That was really good, Michael,” Gavin murmured happily.

“Thanks, Gav. Glad you liked it. I’m just happy you’re eating. You’ve forgotten enough times for both of us to be rail-thin.”

Gavin smiled sheepishly and said, “Sorry, Michael. I don’t _mean_ to. It just… happens, I swear.”

“I’m not mad, Gav,” Michael said, grabbing his plate and standing up. Gavin followed suit. “I’m just concerned about you.” He snaked an arm around Gavin’s waist. “Gotta make sure everything’s okay. You’re my boi, Gav.”

“And you’re mine, Michael,” Gavin said, cooing Michael’s name in a saccharine tone.

Michael reluctantly removed his arm from his boyfriend’s waist and took Gavin’s plate from him. He started rinsing both off just to get the worst of the food detritus from them. Before Michael had even turned on the water, though, Gavin had a mischievous thought. They had a sink sprayer in their kitchen and he intended to turn it into a Super Soaker. He stepped up next to Michael and grabbed the sprayer as innocently as he could.

“Gavin, I swear to God, you’d better be planning on using that to help me.”

Gavin bit the tip of his tongue to keep from giggling and turned the sprayer on Michael’s face. The resulting angry yell consisting of his name froze Gavin to the spot. Michael’s anger dissipated a little—Gavin could already feel the droplets of Michael’s retaliation on his own face, but _the face Michael was making._ Gavin let out a squeaky burst of laughter. “Michael, you’re all wet.”

Michael swiped at his face with the front of his T-shirt. When he returned his gaze to Gavin, he was grimacing, but the expression lacked bite. “C’mere, Gavin,” he said, reaching for Gavin’s right wrist—the hand Gavin was holding the sprayer in. Gavin squeaked and squirmed, and then, thinking of the unintentional injuries some of their past scufflings had risen to, let Michael have the sprayer.

“Please, Michael,” he yelped, “don’t do it!”

Michael smiled conspiratorially. Gavin closed his eyes preemptively, expecting Michael to spray his face. Where he _actually_ sprayed was considerably lower than Gavin’s face.

“Michael!” Gavin shrieked. “That’s _cold!”_  Michael’s corresponding laughter would’ve been much sweeter if Gavin’s crotch hadn’t been soaked to the skin in freezing cold water.

“It looks like you fuckin’ pissed yourself, oh my God!”

Gavin frowned, but his eyes hadn’t quite gotten the “appear as sad as possible” memo. “Michael, why did you do that?”

“As if you didn’t start this shit,” Michael said with a grin. “I promise I won’t do it again tonight if you start the dishes.” Michael let the sprayer hose retract into its holster.

“But… wet food.”

“Fine. I’ll wash them. But you’ll dry them.” Michael poked Gavin in the center of his chest with the pad of his index finger. “Just try not to have too much fun in the meantime or I might have to swat your ass with a wet towel again.”

Gavin swallowed, feeling his cheeks heat up. “Michael!” He _tried_ to sound scandalized without squeaking and was quite less than successful.

“What, Gav? It’s not like we’re out somewhere.” He kissed Gavin’s nose and the Brit smiled slowly.

“I know. It’s just…”

“You’re only ever that shy with me, Gav.” Michael caressed Gavin’s cheek with his left hand. “It’s kinda cute.”

Gavin cupped Michael’s left hand with his right and pulled Michael closer with his own left hand. “I think I know what you want to do when we’re done with the dishes.”

“Probably,” Michael said as Gavin let him break away to tackle the small stack of dirty dishes their sink had accumulated as they made and ate dinner.

Gavin giggled and pulled a towel from where it hung on the oven’s handle. He tried using it to get some of the water out of his skinny jeans, but it wasn’t as effective as he would’ve hoped—the denim was too thick for the towel to really do much good.

“Gavin, I swear to God, if you’re using one of our good towels on your dick water, I’ll fuckin’ spray you again.”

Gavin quickly threw the towel up around his neck. “Not doing it.” He hoped he’d concealed the unsaid “anymore” from his boyfriend. Since when had Michael developed mom senses? Gavin idly pulled at alternating ends of the towel, luxuriating in the warmth the friction produced against his neck. It did nothing against the coldness at the front of his pelvic region, but it felt nice to be warm _somewhere._ He pretended he wasn’t staring at Michael’s posterior the entire time despite the fact that he _absolutely was_ staring at Michael’s posterior.

“Gavin, there are dishes waiting for you.”

“Oh, thanks, Michael.” Gavin had the sneaking suspicion that his boyfriend had guessed where his gaze had lingered. He stepped forward guiltily and took up the first dish to dry and put away.

Soon, Michael’s job was done—he wiped the counter as Gavin put away the last few dishes. “Michael, I think I’m going to change out of these pants now. They’re _really_ cold.”

“Only if I can watch.”

_Goddammit, Michael._ “Alright.”


	3. Our Bodies Possessed By Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once, the apartment was quiet, a rarity in the home that he shared with Gavin. There was always some mess, some kind of shrill Gavin noise, whether it be over video games or that time he sprayed him with the faucet when they were doing the dishes, or when the power went out once during a thunderstorm. But there was none of that right now. It was late in the evening, both of them were cuddled up in bed, and Michael was reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by Dumbelectricfish

Michael was convinced that he’d never been so peaceful in his entire life. 

For once, the apartment was quiet, a rarity in the home that he shared with Gavin. There was always some mess, some kind of shrill Gavin noise, whether it be over video games or that time he sprayed him with the faucet when they were doing the dishes, or when the power went out once during a thunderstorm. But there was none of that right now. It was late in the evening, both of them were cuddled up in bed, and Michael was reading. He didn’t get the chance to read very often, being so busy with work and other things, and he was really happy that he was able to make some progress on the Game of Thrones book he was currently reading. Gavin, meanwhile, was snuggled up against his side, doing nothing more than tracing Michael’s tattoos and bare chest with his fingers and occasionally dozing off. 

Michael turned his page, the sound of the paper the only noise in the room. The lights were down; just the bedside lamp on Michael’s side of the bed and the Christmas lights on the inside of the window were lit, filling the room with a soft warm light. Out in the living room, which Michael could see through the open bedroom door, the Christmas tree glittered with multicolored lights. 

Michael was flipping to the next page in his book when Gavin made a little noise and snuggled closer into his shoulder. Michael looked down at him; all he could really see was the crazy shock of dark blond hair from where he sat. Gavin’s face was hidden. He smiled, and kissed his boyfriend on the top of his head. 

“How’s it going, boy?” 

Gavin lifted his head and looked at Michael with a sleepy smile on his face. “Top,” he said, booping Michael’s arm with his nose. “How about you, Michael?”

“Pretty great.” Michael stuck his book next to him on the bed, the pages split open in the place where he’d left off. Reaching down, he gently lifted Gavin’s chin so he could kiss him on the mouth. Gavin made another little happy noise at the contact, and shifted a little to get closer. 

The kiss was gentle and slow, but kissing Gavin never failed to give Michael goosebumps. The back of his neck tingled as their tongues slid against each other’s, and as Gavin’s hand moved up to trace Michael’s ribcage. Michael slid his fingers from Gavin’s chin up his cheekbone, and into his hair, already messy from his pillow and their cuddling. 

When they pulled away, Michael rested his forehead against Gavin’s for a moment, his eyes closed. It had been a long day at work with several videos that failed halfway because of game crashes or capture drops. This was the most relaxed and calm he’d felt all day, and Michael was not a particularly calm person by nature. He smiled, and kissed Gavin on his ridiculous nose before leaning over to pick up his book again. 

They were both quiet again for a little while; the only sounds were their breathing, the pages of Michael’s book, and the occasional rasp of skin against blankets. At one point, Gavin shifted so he could put his head on Michael’s lap, and Michael found himself running his fingers through Gavin’s soft hair as he read. 

“Mmmm,” Gavin murmured at the contact. The sound felt like a rumble on Michael’s legs, through Gavin’s rib cage. 

“Does that feel good?” Michael asked. 

“Yeah…” Gavin said, very softly. Michael smiled, and lightly scratched Gavin’s scalp with his fingertips. Gavin responded by making a noise that was uncannily similar to the noise of a happy cat.

Michael continued reading and playing with Gavin’s hair, and after a few minutes he felt Gavin’s breathing shift. Leaning forward to look at his boyfriend’s face, he grinned when he realized that Gavin’s had fallen asleep again. He let him rest quietly, and went back to his book. 

About twenty minutes later, just as Michael was starting a new chapter, 

“Sometimes I really wish Austin got snow for Christmas.”

Michael looked down at Gavin again. “I thought you were asleep,” he said with a smile.

Gavin shifted, stretching a little, and Michael watched the muscles and bones in his narrow back move and ripple beneath his skin. “Nah. Been awake for a couple minutes.” 

“Mmm.” Michael paused. “Snow, though, huh?”

“Yeah. I love how warm Austin is but sometimes I wish we could have snow, even just for Christmas.”

“That would be really nice.”

“We could have a snowball fight. Maybe even make a little snowman.”

Michael smiled, because Gavin was horrendously cute. “If we ever get snow, or are somewhere in the winter that has snow, we’re building a snowman, you and me.”

Gavin turned his head to look at Michael, his eyes glowing in the dim light. The bedside lamp accented his cheekbones and collarbones, making them look sharp and angular. Michael thought about tracing them with his mouth. “Really, Michael?”

“Yeah really, you idiot.”

“Top.” Gavin grinned, and leaned up to kiss him on the mouth. Michael grinned against Gavin’s lips, then proceeded to kiss his way up Gavin’s cheekbone to his ear. Gavin trailed his fingers gently down Michael’s chest, curling around the base of his ribcage. Michael traced Gavin’s ear with his lips, and Gavin shivered a little. Michael pulled back about an inch, and smiled. 

“I love you, Gav,” he said softly in Gavin’s ear.

Gavin shifted and put his head on Michael’s shoulder. “I love you too, Michael.” 

They fell asleep like that, tangled up together. Michael found his book at the foot of the bed the next morning, slightly crumpled, his place marked by nothing more than a crease in the spine.


	4. Snowboyfriends and Cocoa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Michael go out after a freak snowfall and play around in the snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is very overdue. For that I apologize. I blew my load on another chapter for this fic and then realized that this chapter needed to happen next chronologically speaking. And then I had a bit of a personal issue that resulted in a bit of a vicious circle, which I finally broke. Anyway, here it is. I'm sorry it's probably not as good as my other one, but the next one I write will be better than this, hopefully.

After three hours with the news bouncing around in his head, Gavin finally went in to wake Michael up. It was five in the morning. “Michael,” Gavin shrieked, shaking his boyfriend’s shoulder. “It’s snowing!”

  
“What? Gavin, I know you want it to snow here, but the odds of that happening are as likely as—” Michael rolled over and caught a glimpse of the world outside his window and the snow in the streetlights’ beams. “Fuck my ass. It’s actually snowing in Austin. Hell must’ve started cooling off.”

  
“Told you, Michael,” Gavin said, displaying a shit-eating grin.

  
“Gavin, did you even go to sleep?”

  
“Uh, no. I just got stuck in Reach, so I thought it’d be a good idea to come in here… Oh, three hours ago.”

  
“Three hours ago? Why didn’t you sleep?”

  
“I saw the snow. Got excited. Couldn’t sleep if I’d wanted to.”

  
“Try to sleep now, stupid,” Michael said, scooting over and lifting up the covers. “Come to bed.” Michael was well-rested enough to stay awake, but stayed in bed to keep Gavin warm. The other man had a notorious way of somehow getting cold even in a pre-warmed bed.

  
Gavin obeyed and, in a turn of events that was both surprising and made sense considering Gavin’s sleep record, was asleep in minutes.

\------

When Gavin woke, he insisted that he and Michael go outside immediately. Michael, much to Gavin’s chagrin, said he wasn’t going outside until Gavin had eaten breakfast. Gavin let out a slightly frustrated “Okay, Michael,” before hurrying through a small bowl of cereal. As soon as he finished, he started rushing around to get geared up for a day in the snow. They didn’t have snow pants—there wasn’t much point since snow was so scarce in Austin—and thus their snow gear was limited to hats, gloves, boots, and coats. The other man’s enthusiasm brought a smile to Michael’s lips as he readied himself.

  
“It is kind of funny that this happened so soon after you mentioned it, Gav. Three days later? Damn.”

  
“It’s a Christmas miracle, Michael!” Gavin said, pulling his hat on.

  
Michael took a moment to look Gavin over. If the Brit had missed a single article of snow clothing they had available, he’d spend a ridiculous amount of time bitching about cold body parts.

  
“Let’s go, Michael! We’re both ready!”

  
Michael decided that Gavin was right. “Okay, moron. Let’s go build a snowman.”

  
They left the apartment to find an abysmally lacking two or three inches of snow on the ground.

  
“We got way more than this in England,” Gavin said, his voice practically strangling itself on his disappointment.

  
“Well, Gav, it’s Austin. Too hot usually even for this. We’ll have to take what we can get.”

  
“Okay, Michael, but how are we meant to make a proper snowman?”

  
“We’ll make a really tiny one. Like snowballs for everything instead of snow boulders.” As Michael said this, he scooped up snow between his gloved hands and packed it together to illustrate his point.

  
Gavin sighed, more than a little upset that everything had to be on a smaller scale than he’d desired. He decided to try to make the best of it—after all, he did have Michael out here to build tiny snowmen with him. Gavin smiled as he packed snow together for a tiny snowman head and placed it on the body Michael had made. “Aw, Michael, that’s actually really cute! It kind of looks like you.”

  
Michael laughed at first, but then spend a few moments studying the snowman. “Gav, I think someone drugged your cereal, buddy.”

  
“But… It totally does. Here’s an eye, there’s the other one, your cute little nose, and your silly little mouth.”

  
“Alright, Gav. You make the body for the next one.”

  
Gavin did so, packing snow tightly together. Michael put a snow head on top of it moments later, a snow head with a particularly large nose.  
“Michael, that’s not funny.”

  
“Have you ever thought that I might actually like your big nose, Gav?”

  
Gavin’s lips formed a miniscule o. Michael kissed Gavin’s nose, his soft lips a gentle, comforting presence on Gavin’s skin. Gavin grinned, his eyes lighting up. Michael returned a smile of his own and set back to work on snowman bodies. He had several done by the time Gavin tired of making heads. Instead of telling Michael he’d like to do something else as would’ve been prudent, Gavin decided to pretend to make another head and then threw it at Michael. The snowball caught Michael in the ear. He was mostly shielded by his hat, but the prickle of cold on his earlobe made him jump and yell Gavin’s name.

  
Gavin knew retaliation was coming and caved in upon himself, covering every prospective target area of his body by curling into a ball on his knees with his back to the sky. Michael’s snowball hit him in the spine right above his hipbones. Gavin, thinking Michael was satisfied, uncurled. That was his mistake. Michael picked up the snowballs he’d produced when they were still focused on making snowmen and proceeded to launch them at Gavin one by one. Gavin stumbled, trying to get up as his boyfriend pummeled him with snowballs. Gavin finally managed to run to the other side of the apartment complex. Michael decided he was simply going to wait for Gavin to come back.

  
Gavin hunkered down in the snow for a while, very conscious of the cold creeping into him through his legs and butt. He tried to keep it to a minimum by rising to a crouch and leaning against the brick of the building. Eventually, he got too cold from lack of movement and the snow he’d melted against his rear. His brilliant decision was to try to declare a cease-fire with Michael as he walked back towards their apartment building.

  
While Gavin was hiding, Michael had taken the time to assemble a huge snowball. He hefted it as he ran toward his boyfriend. “Michael, do—” Gavin was cut off by the snowball’s impact with his face. Michael hadn’t thrown it very hard, but the snow managed to get into Gavin’s mouth and chill the rest of his face.

  
“Oh my God, Gav! I’m sorry!” Michael said as Gavin spat half-melted snow on the ground and made sad squawking noises. Michael went over and put an arm around Gavin’s shoulders. Now that Gavin’s face was wet, he’d really started feeling the cold. Michael was a little more tolerant of the low temperature, but had to admit, if pressed, that he was also feeling the bite of the winter air. “Maybe we should go inside, Gav,” he said once his boyfriend had stopped spluttering and fussing.

  
“Yeah, I’m really cold, Michael.”

  
“You’re kind of a fucking twig, Gavin. There’s no fat on you to protect you from the cold.”

  
Gavin smiled sheepishly. “The snowball didn’t help. Oh, Michael, can we do cocoa?”

  
“Sure, Gav.”

  
Gavin’s smile shifted and became brighter and more genuine. Michael stayed very close to Gavin, trying to provide any warmth he could for Gavin. The other man was shivering quite noticeably and, upon further inspection, Michael realized that Gavin’s lips were blue. He’d stopped noticing his own discomfort by the time the two of them made it to the door of their apartment building. Michael took off a glove to get the extra dexterity of an uncovered hand to work on unlocking the door. He opened it and nudged Gavin through the door.

  
Gavin let out a few blasts of British slang for parts of the body better left concealed by pants and undergarments as he shuddered in the hallway and he and Michael made their way to their own apartment’s door. Michael unlocked the door and made his way to the tea kettle on the stove, which he filled with water and proceeded to heat on the stove. Gavin had removed his coat and other cold weather garments in favor of going to the bedroom to change into warm, dry clothes. Michael pulled the cocoa mix from the cupboard. When Gavin emerged, the water was boiling.

  
“Took you long enough,” Michael teased. Gavin had put on a fresh pair of skinny jeans and was wearing a hoodie.

  
“It’s hard to take your clothes off when you’re really cold. You’re still wearing your coat, you dope.”

  
“Yeah. Should go ahead and take it off. Can I trust you to not get cocoa mix everywhere?”

  
“Yeah, Michael,” Gavin said, grinning as he moved into the small kitchen and grabbed a spoon from the drawer they kept them in. He took several spoonfuls of cocoa mix from the container, used the spoon to stir his mug, and, as an afterthought, got a new spoon out for Michael.

  
Michael took off his coat, hung it up in their little closet, and came back into the kitchen to see that Gavin had done an excellent job of not spilling the cocoa powder. However, he was fairly certain there was far more cocoa mix in Gavin’s mug than the man really needed.

  
Gavin stirred the contents of his mug and grinned. “Got you a spoon, Michael,” he cooed, gesturing to the spoon on the counter.

  
“Thanks, Gav. Uh… Just how much cocoa did you put in there?”

  
“A few spoonfuls,” Gavin said, a ghost of defensiveness creeping into his voice.

  
“And then some?” Michael asked, grinning lopsidedly.

  
“It’s not like it’s that sweet, Michael,” Gavin said, his voice higher and slightly whinier.

  
Michael chuckled. “It’s okay, stupid. I just don’t want you to be too hyper to sleep tonight.”

  
They sat across from each other at their small dinner table and sipped the steaming liquid from their mugs. Gavin grinned mischievously and started swinging his legs, clipping Michael’s shins with his toes just gently enough to keep from hurting himself.

  
“Gavin, what the fuck? Why?”

  
“Love you, Michael.”

  
“You little shit,” Michael said. It wasn’t an insult.

  
Gavin chuckled and let his legs mingle with Michael’s underneath the table. “Your nose is sort of red, you donut.”

  
“Your lips are sort of blue, dumbass. Drink your damn cocoa.”

  
They didn’t last long at the table. Gavin’s shivering had returned (or so he made it seem, a possibility that didn’t escape Michael’s reasoning) and they settled in on the couch in front of the TV, channel surfing as they kept each other warm with gentle cuddling.


	5. Moving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Gavin are moving into their own place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not chronological with any of the other chapters, oops.

Moving in the middle of an Austin summer afternoon was probably the worst decision that Michael had ever made. 

He and Gavin had been officially together for more than a year now, and they’d finally decided to move in together, even though their stuff had been migrating into each other’s spaces for a while anyway. They found a place that wasn’t too far from the office and signed the lease, and now that they were finally able to move in, the weather decided to become the equivalent of a sweaty armpit. 

Michael put down the box he was carrying in the living room of their new place and wiped his forehead, out of breath after walking up the outdoor stairs. They were only on the second floor of their building, but it was too far in this heat. The air conditioning provided little relief. He was in the middle of taking a huge swallow of his Red Bull that sat on the counter when Gavin came through the door with Jack, carrying Michael’s coffee table between them. They set it down and Gavin huffed loudly, his tshirt rimmed with sweat around the collar. Michael tried not to stare at the impressive heights Gavin’s hair was currently reaching. He must’ve been running his fingers through it again. 

Jack headed back through the front door to grab more boxes from the truck waiting downstairs, and Michael and Gavin just turned and looked at each other for a minute. Michael couldn’t help but grin, and Gavin did the same. 

“I’m so excited, Michael.” Gavin said, crossing the room to wrap his arms around Michael. He was hot and sticky but his hair smelled good so Michael didn’t care. 

“I am too. Took us long enough to do this, didn’t it?” 

“It did. Geoff was teasing me the other day and asking us why we didn’t do it sooner.” 

Michael laughed. “Well, Geoff is Geoff.” They both stood there for a moment, their arms wrapped around each other. Gavin slouched against Michael a little, as he often did, until Michael was supporting much of his weight. Michael kissed him on the neck and Gavin made a quiet little happy noise. They were still standing like that when Ray walked in, carrying a couple of boxes. 

“Y’know, you guys are cute and all, but it’d be nice if you helped carry shit upstairs instead of just standing there sucking face.”

“We weren’t sucking face, Ray, you--” Gavin started to say, pulling away from Michael a little. Michael chuckled and put out his hand, resting it on Gavin’s chest. 

“It’s okay, boy.” Michael placed a quick kiss on Gavin’s cheek and then headed towards the door. “We really should be helping.” 

After a couple more hours, Ray had to leave and Jack followed suit not too long after, leaving Michael and Gavin to carry in the last few remaining things. Most of it was just boxes, but there was their small couch, as well, that still needed to be carried up. The air was still ridiculously hot, though the humidity had died down a little as the sun began to set.  
“Gav, do you want to give me a hand with this couch? We can get it on our own.” Michael pointed. “Here, you take that end, and I’ll take this one, so I’ll be the one to go backwards up the stairs.”

“I could do that.” 

“You’d probably fall on your ass, stupid.” Michael said as he started to lift the couch into the air. Gavin made a small noise and shrugged.

“That’s probably true.”

Slowly, they made their way towards the apartment, making it up the stairs with surprisingly few mishaps. Once they got inside the door, though, they encountered some problems. 

“Where do we put it?” Gavin asked, his face peeking over the arm of the couch. The room was filled with boxes and things that had been placed down without any kind of direction, so there was very little floor space. 

"Here, set it down for a minute,” Michael said, as he lowered his end of the couch down onto the floor. “We’ll have to move some stuff around.” He pushed a couple stacks against the wall, then excused himself to use the bathroom. He could hear scraping and bumping through the walls, and he really hoped it was just Gavin moving some of the boxes to make room for the couch.

As he reentered the room, he couldn’t help but notice how quiet it was. And where was the couch? He turned, to see it sitting…in the kitchen. 

“GAVIN.”

His boyfriend’s blond head popped up from behind the couch. “Awwwww. I wanted to surprise you, Michael.” He was starting to make the puppy dog eyes that Michael seemed to have such an annoyingly hard time ignoring. 

“Well, try to be more subtle about it, next time. Now help me move this. We can’t have the couch in the kitchen.” They bent down to pick it up. The living room was right next to the kitchen, admittedly, but Michael was a little surprised that Gavin had been able to move it by himself.

“Why not?”

“Why not what?”

“Why can’t we have the couch in the kitchen?”

“Because. It would get in the way, dummy.” 

“But it’d be fun.”

“Only if your version of fun is annoying.” They set the couch down against a wall in the living room. “Although, this is you. You thrive off of annoying.” 

Gavin planted a kiss on Michael’s cheek. “You know it.” 

They spent the next few hours moving the last of the boxes inside, returning the moving truck, and sitting on the living room floor eating pizza off of napkins before getting back to rearranging the boxes and furniture. 

“Feels good to be in this air conditioning,” Gavin said as he scooted the coffee table across the floor. 

“Damn yeah it does. That heat was brutal earlier. I don’t know what we were thinking when we planned to move today.”

“Well, we didn’t know it’d be that hot, did we?” 

“Nah, I suppose that’s true.” Michael said as he pushed the barstools under the countertop and crossed the room to pick up a couple of boxes that belonged in the bedroom. When he came back into the living room, Gavin was sprawled out across the floor. 

“What’re you doing, you stupid?” Michael asked with a laugh, walking over and stopping by Gavin’s shoulder. 

Gavin’s voice was muffled by the carpet. “Tired.” 

“It is getting pretty late.” Michael moved his feet just in time to dodge an attempt by Gavin to grab him by the ankles and knock him over. “You asshole.” Gavin laughed. 

Michael crouched down. He knew Gavin was relatively fit, physically, but he still worried about him getting too worn out. “You know, if you’re that tired, maybe we should just make sure the bed is set up, and we should go to sleep.” 

Gavin rolled over onto his back. “That sounds like a good idea.” 

It took them a few minutes to get the bedframe together and squared up, but soon their bed was put together and in place against the wall by the window. Gavin was kicking off his shoes as Michael came back into the room carrying the box full of bedding. He slit open the tape, and tossed the fitted sheet to Gavin. 

“Here, help me get this on.” They didn’t bother with much, just the fitted sheet, a light blanket in case the air conditioning became too intense, and their pillows. Michael slid out of his jeans and shirt, catching Gavin staring as his head popped out of the fabric. Michael just met his eyes and smiled, crawling onto his side of the bed. Gavin had clearly gotten distracted halfway through taking his own clothes off, since he was shirtless but still had his jeans on. Michael reached over to tap him on the hip. 

“Get those off, stupid.” Gavin obliged, and soon they were both curled up together with the lights off. Michael reached over and wrapped his arm around Gavin’s waist. 

“Our first night in our own place…” Gavin said it softly, like he couldn’t believe it was real. Michael smiled, and tucked his face into the hollow behind Gavin’s ear. Gavin reached over and took Michael’s hand, lacing their fingers together. The room was quiet, traffic noises coming softly through the walls. 

“I love you, Gavin.”

“I love you too, Michael. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, boy.”


	6. A Monstrous Little Necessity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin comes home with a kitten. Michael decides the apartment really could use a cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah, late again because I am trash and need to write the thing twice before I type it up. And, if you're curious about the title, it's a reference to a certain series by Scott Lynch, specifically the second book of the series, Red Seas Under Red Skies. Check out the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence. It's full of laughs and pain. It is glorious. Anyway, have fun and, if you can, cuddle a kitten while reading this. If you only have a cat available, that's cool, too. If you've only got a dog, give him or her a nice petting while reading and pretend it's a puppy in the fic instead. Thanks for sticking with us. This will probably be the last chapter for a few weeks while we get our bearings, so... Sorry about the hiatus.

“Michael!” Gavin’s excited shout was notably quieter than usual. It was mainly due to the cuddly, sleeping ball of fur in his arms. “C’mere, boy.”

  
Michael rose from his place on the couch as Gavin carefully strode over to the other young man. “Gavin, what’re you doing with a kitten?”

  
“She’s the last of her litter—her family, that is her human one, couldn’t take care of her or her brothers and sisters, so they gave them all away.” Gavin’s eyes went glassy. “We’re her only hope, Michael. Please. Let’s keep her.”

  
Michael’s gaze flicked from Gavin to the kitten and back again a few times. The kitten, a gray, striped little thing, was really cute, especially when she opened her eyes and yawned. She turned her little green eyes on Michael and he could swear it was as if he was looking at a female, feline Gavin. Michael sighed, but without the force of exasperation behind it. “Okay, Gav. We’ll keep her. But you’ve gotta feed her and take care of her litterbox.”

  
“Okay, Michael!” Gavin said, consciously restraining himself so he wouldn’t jostle the kitten around. After a moment, he said, “Michael, we don’t have a litterbox or anything else for her. Can we get supplies for her now?”

  
Michael took in Gavin’s face and couldn’t keep from smiling. “Sure, Gav. Should we just get kibbles or canned stuff?”

  
“Geoff and I always mixed the two for our cats.”

  
“Alright,” Michael said, scratching the kitten behind her little left ear. The kitten leaned into his fingers, purring at the contact. He made a small contented noise in response. “So, Gav, do we want to take her with us or—?”

  
Gavin squeaked. “Can we, Michael? We could go to one of those stores where we can actually bring her in. Please?”

  
Michael let out an airy chuckle. “Of course, stupid. We can see what kind of bowls suit her best.”

  
“I was thinking of something fairly small… And blue,” Gavin said as he opened the door, ever mindful of the adorable cargo he bore, and exited the house. He held the door open for Michael with the toe of his shoe as the other man put on his own shoes and exited the apartment. Michael closed the door behind himself and locked it—he always kept his keys in his pocket even if he was at home, something Gavin teased him about despite the fact that the Brit himself had been locked out of the apartment several times because he didn’t exercise the same habit.

  
Gavin practically skipped his way to the car was parked, or as close to skipping as he could get without upsetting his tiny passenger. “Michael,” he said once he and his boyfriend were in the car, “it’s like she’s our daughter.”

  
Michael laughed despite his knowledge that doing so would breed more comments like that from Gavin later on. He started the car and responded, “You stupid little shit.” The expletive was hopelessly endearing.

  
Gavin smiled and leaned down to nuzzle the kitten. He decided to let her roam around on his lap. He was particularly watchful when Michael cornered—his boyfriend didn’t whip through the turns, but Gavin wanted to make sure their little bundle was safe.

  
“Michael, we have to name her,” Gavin said as they pulled up to the pet store.

  
“Oh, God, Gav. We do. Um. Shit. Delila?”

  
“She’d already have a theme song, then. I doubt she’s ever been to New York City, though,” Gavin said, grinning.

  
“So, is that a go, then?”

  
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. Little Delila.” Gavin stroked the top of the kitten’s head and she mewed softly. Gavin couldn’t stop himself from making a stupid little exclamatory noise, a soft squeal over her cuteness.

  
Michael smiled, hoping Gavin knew how adorable he looked and sounded when he did that. “Pick up Delila so we can get her stuff. She’s probably hungry, Gav.”

  
“Yeah. C’mere, love.” The second sentence was directed at Delila. Gavin picked her up and opened the car door. Michael got out and, once Gavin had shut his own door, locked the car. Michael kept to Gavin’s left, his shoulder brushing his boyfriend’s.

  
They took a little while deciding on the shade of blue, the size of the bowls, and which brands of cat food would be the most beneficial for Delila. All three were quite tired by the end of the affair, but with all of the necessary supplies for excellent cat ownership, they considered the trip successful.

  
After paying, they left, Michael pushing the cart they’d had to use. Gavin couldn’t keep a wide grin from his lips. It felt more real with Delila’s cart of supplies on the way to the car. Delila herself, however, started squirming a little, finally beginning to tire of Gavin’s arms. Gavin did his best to calm her until they made it to the car. Gavin let Delila play around in the backseat—Michael cracked the windows open to give the kitten some airflow in Austin’s heat—as he unloaded the cart with his boyfriend. When they got into the car after returning the cart to the corral, Gavin reached into the backseat and pulled Delila onto his lap. She nuzzled him, rubbing her chin against his arms and torso, purring the whole time. “Aw, Michael. It’s like she knows we saved her.”

  
Michael grinned. “Yeah, Gav. She really likes you. I’ve never seen a cat that willing to stay in someone’s arms.”

  
Gavin scratched behind Delila’s ears. “She’s one of a kind,” he said, shifting his attention completely to stroking Delila.

  
When they made it back to the apartment, Michael did his best to heave all the bags into the covered litterbox, carry it in one arm and the kitty litter in the other. Gavin had charge of Delila and the keys. Michael sighed with audible relief when Gavin managed to unlock the apartment without dropping the keys.

  
Once they’d managed to give her food, water, and a ready-to-use litterbox (There were quite a few times when the target of their labors had interrupted them and even given them tiny kitten kisses.), Gavin sat down and pulled out a little felt mouse with a bell inside it and a feather for a tail from one of the bags. Delila had just finished eating and was licking her paw to clean her face when she caught sight of the toy, the bell inside jingling merrily as Gavin grasped it by the feather and waved it around. Delila approached, stalking it intently.

  
“Careful, Gavin. I’m pretty sure she’s still got claws,” Michael had spared a glance at Gavin from where he stood in the kitchen. He’d set to work on their dinner after getting the litterbox set up for Delila and washing his hands.

  
“It’ll be okay,” Gavin said. “I’ve played with clawed cats before.” He proceeded to use his slightly higher-pitched “I’m talking to cute animals” voice and murmured various forms of “Get it,” “C’mon, Delila,” “Aw, good job, love,” and happy noises of adoration. Gavin waved the mouse around and Delila batted at it, her claws sinking into the felt toy. “Oh, you cutie!” Gavin remarked, pulling the toy up and away gently. Delila freed herself and lunged for the toy again. Gavin’s hand caught her sharp little claws this time, however. He dropped the toy and squawked an “Ow!” Delila looked up at him and tilted her head to the side before going after the mouse and entertaining herself with it a little.

  
Michael looked over his shoulder, taking a brief break from stirring the contents of a pan. “Gavin? Are you okay?”

  
“Delila got me with her claws. It’s not too deep, but I’m bleeding.”

  
“Gavin,” Michael said, drawing out the vowels scoldingly. He turned off the burner and came over to see Gavin’s wounds for himself. The back of Gavin’s hand bore two fairly deep scratches and two that were considerably shallower, barely breaking the skin. “Let’s get your hand fixed up, you moron.”

  
“Sorry, Michael. That was stupid. I should’ve just thrown it for her.” He’d wanted to keep her as close as he could. It felt like Delila was his and his alone.

  
“Shut up, dumbass, or I’ll use the hydrogen peroxide instead of the cushy antibiotic cream.” Michael’s words, like they so often did these days, oozed love.

  
“Okay. I just… Yeah.”

  
The two walked to the bathroom and Michael grabbed Band-Aids and antibiotic cream from the medicine cabinet. “Sit here, stupid,” he said as he lowered the toilet lid to create a convenient chair. Gavin did as Michael told him to. Michael smeared some over Gavin’s bleeding wounds and used a tissue to wipe away the excess so the bandages would stick to Gavin’s skin. As he layered his boyfriend’s wounds with the sticky, gauzed latex, Michael said, “I’m not your Goddamned nurse, you know. I can’t constantly do this shit for you.”

  
“But… I think you might like doing it, Michael. You’re smiling and it feels quite motherly.”

  
“Did you hit your head, too?” Michael asked, placing one of the last bandages on Gavin’s hand—the bigger scratches had merited two each. “If I’m motherly at all, I’m a doting mom and you’re a pissy brat of a kid.”

  
Gavin smiled up at him from where he sat on the lid of the toilet and, realizing just how cute Michael looked while worrying over him, gave his boyfriend a kiss. Michael returned it passionately.

  
Michael pulled away first and the action was met with half-worded protests from Gavin. “Sorry, baby, but I’m starving and our dinner’s not even half done yet.”

  
“Oh, yeah. That.”

“Yeah. Anyway, we can pick this up afterwards.”

  
Gavin smiled and let out a snorty chuckle.

\-----

That night, an hour after they’d started kissing and cuddling in their bed, Delila showed up, jumping in with them. She curled up between their feet and was asleep soon afterwards.

  
In the interest of letting her remain undisturbed, they settled on hugging each other close that night.


End file.
